Revolut mafia just surpassed Revolut itself

In just five years, 102 Revolut alumni-led startups, some of which have former Revolut employees in C-level positions, have collectively secured a remarkable $2.2 billion in funding from 184 venture capitalists (Revolut has raised $1.7B since 2015 from 52 VCs). Among these, there are 67 startups founded by Revolut alumni, amassing an impressive $451 million in total funding from 152 venture capitalists. The alumni network is rapidly closing the gap with Revolut and, when considering the broader network, has even surpassed it in terms of investments.

It means that startup mafias are no-joke. They are spreading across the business landscape: from PayPal to Alibaba, from the US to India, from fintech to retail to crypto – all major players have amassed global cross-industry networks of hyper-successful alumni with their own startups.?

The startup mafia is a wide network of second generation startups aka unicorn factories, as Accel calls them. They grow worldwide because of strong personal connections, vast experience and shared success stories gained after working in great companies. Why is it so great? Well, members of startup mafias? leverage connections to get idea validations and build a core team. They launch smarter as they test the ideas faster than average and focus only on those that fly. These advantages lead to a higher success rate and better reputation as such startups are seen as more credible by investors, prospective employees and partners.

Companies that ‘breed’ their own startup mafias can capitalize on their existence. The benefits for them include a chance to strengthen the HR brand, provide growth & pivot opportunities for the team and alumni, while keeping talents in-house. FInally, ‘mafias’ can positively impact reputation by showing the growth of the company beyond its main value proposition and widen the brand influence by building the ecosystem around it.?

The benefits for ex-employees & founders are also strong. Being a member of mafia allows them to leverage the network for faster idea testing, MVP & roll-out and using other corporate benefits to boost the startup. For them, it also strengthens reputation as it creates a prestige aura for prospective employers of a company and a badge of trust for future investors for startup owners. It looks like a win-win situation, doesn’t it?

Next-Level Growth: The power of connections

Let’s take as an example? the London-based fintech unicorn Revolut mafia to see in detail what high tech mafias are.

First of all, Revolut mafia is bigger than you think. A band of former Revolut employees, armed with their experience and skills, breaking free from the nest and launching their own fintech startups. In total, 67 startups belonging to the Revolut Mafia emerged from the shadows, among which 27 were actively raising investments recently. All of it makes Revolut mafia one of the biggest in Europe by both the number of startups launched and capital raised.?

Overall, they raise 4 times higher pre-seed rounds and 3 times higher seed rounds than average in Europe. They successfully graduate from prestigious accelerators, including Y Combinator and TechStars. Not to mention earning trust from such big-names investors as? a16z, Visa, Accel and others, some of which are repeating investors, who seem to particularly like ex-Revolut ventures. Former colleagues keep connections and invest in each other's ideas as well. Revolut competitors also pay attention to its mafia. For example, Tom Blomfield, CEO of Monzo and a Y Combinator committee member, is mentioned within Screenloop investors.?

Revolut mafia is bigger than you think

Working at Revolut isn't your typical 9-to-5 gig; it's a transformative adventure. Employees are thrown into the deep end, faced with complex challenges, and encouraged to push the boundaries of traditional finance. This high-pressure, high-reward environment acts as a crucible, forging the skills and mettle of future fintech trailblazers.

Revolut's culture of audacity, innovation, and agility creates an atmosphere that strengthens friendship.? Based on LinkedIn, we see that startup founders worked on average for 23-26 months (approximately 2 years) at Revolut prior to starting their own company. This time is enough to build connections and make friends at a workplace.?

Because of that, we see several startups that were founded by two or more ex-Revolut employees in collaboration. For example, Solvo, LiveFlow, Vault, Tilt were founded by two Revolut alumni, and? Pledge, Sardine and DolarApp were brought to life by three ex-Revolut.?

Former colleagues become not only co-founders but also co-investors. According to Crunchbase and LinkedIn data, among such investors-friends are Edward Cooper, a head of crypto in Revolut, who individually invested in 6 Revolut mafia startups; Alan Chang, ex-Revolut himself, currently a CEO at Tesseract Energy, Bogdan Uzbekov and Yaroslav Kravchenko from Apron ,? Dan Westgarth, Ex-Revolut US and COO of Deel. Let's not forget about other ex-Revolut employees: Marina Troshina from Softbank and George Robson from Sequoia Europe.

The biggest stars from Revolut mafia are Shares ($89.8 M in total funding), Tesseract ($78 M), Sardine ($75.6 M), Belvo ($56 M), Verse ($37.6 M), Treehouse ($20.4 M), Pillar ($16.5 M), Puzzle ($15.3 M), Pledge ($14.5 M), DeBlock ($12 M) and COVU ($10 M). Ex-Revolut talents also join other influential projects, e.g. Deel, Thought Machine and Allica Bank,? taking C-level positions and empowering the overall ‘mafia’ network.?

Read more: What is Revolut buys WeWork next week? Why might buying WeWork be a good move for Revolut (and Softbank)?

In terms of focus, as expected, the majority of the ex-Revolut startups span a wide range of fintech verticals (36% of all industries), showcasing the diverse skill set of their founders. From challenger banks to payment solutions, investment platforms to cryptocurrency ventures (9% of all industries), the Revolut Mafia is turning the fintech industry on its head, one disruptive idea at a time.?

Unsurprisingly, the United Kingdom serves as a hotbed for these burgeoning fintech startups, with London at the epicenter of the action. The UK and Europe combined is the headquarter choice for 70% of all startups. Most of them were founded recently in 2021 and 2022, matching the global trend of startup influx worldwide.

The Revolut Mafia phenomenon showcases the incredible power of transformative work environments in shaping future leaders and fostering a culture of innovation. Revolut, like other fintech giants, has become a breeding ground for entrepreneurial talent, identifying talents across the globe, attracting top-notch professionals with their magnetic charm and equipping their employees with the skills, experiences, and connections to make waves in the industry. As the fintech revolution continues to gain momentum, the Revolut Mafia and their counterparts from other companies are reshaping the financial landscape.?

Who will ride the wave?

Besides above-mentioned win-win opportunities and successful performance, surprisingly, no one yet is using the startup mafia phenomenon for their needs in-house and/or externally. As in Revolut's example, an intense corporate? culture, coupled with its emphasis on innovation and agility, cultivates a mindset of audacity and risk-taking. This potent mix of training and acceleration sets the stage for ex employees to spread their wings and take the fintech world by storm.

It seems that there is a clear demand for support of internal entrepreneurial initiatives of current employees that want to test ideas without taking full risk of leaving the company and a tool to keep good connection with those who already left the company.?

Based on insights about the Revolut case, it looks like such an initiative would stand on firm ground and is prone to success financially-wise, reputation-wise, HR-wise and so on. Will Revolut, PayPal, n26, Klarna, Stripe, Robinhood, Square or somebody else ride the wave? We’ll keep watching.